Online Casino Gaming Driving Massive UK Gambling Growth

The overall outlook of Britain’s gambling market is changing, and the latest figures suggest online casino gaming is on the rise and there seems to be good reason for that.

Total gross gambling yield reached £17.5bn in the year to March 2026, up 4.4% from the previous year, according to the UK Gambling Commission. Remove lotteries from the picture and Gross Gaming Yield rose 4.7% to £13.2bn.

The online market was responsible for much of that increase, generating £8.3bn across casino, betting and bingo, compared with £4.9bn from land-based gambling. That means remote GGY grew 6.9%, while the land-based market managed just 1.1%.

How iGaming is Doing the Heavy Lifting

Online casino games generated £5.7bn in GGY during the period, making them by far the largest part of the remote market. Slots accounted for £4.8bn, while online sports betting generated £2.4bn, led by football at £1.2bn and horse racing at £769.3m. Remote bingo was much smaller at £147.8m.

The growth rates tell an even clearer story. Online casino GGY jumped 14.8%, while slots rose 15%. Remote betting, meanwhile, fell 6.6% to £2.45bn and remote bingo declined 13.8% to £147.8m.

That growth also came despite fewer new accounts being opened. Registrations dropped 3% to 32.4 million, while 25.7 million active accounts were recorded during the final quarter. Funds held in customer accounts also fell 13.9% to £886.6m.

The land-based figures on the other hand are far more mixed. Non-remote betting GGY fell 3.3% to £2.4bn, while the number of betting shops dropped for the 12th consecutive reporting period to 5,617. Great Britain ended the period with 8,081 licensed gambling premises in total, down 2% year on year.

Other parts of the retail sector performed better. Arcade GGY climbed 10.7% to £800.1m, adult gaming centres rose 11.3% to £761.4m and bingo increased 8.2% to £703.8m. Casino GGY was almost flat, edging up 0.4% to £933.9m.

The Market Is Growing, But Not Everywhere

Lotteries continued to add significant value to the overall market. National Lottery sales reached £7.9bn, up 0.9%, while large society lottery sales increased 5.7% to £1.2bn. Contributions to charitable causes also rose during the year.

The number of licensed gambling operators fell 1.1% to 2,154, although licensed activities increased 0.4% to 3,097.